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HTTOP/VEX Patented May 22, 1 951 PALLET Oscar F. Arthur, Connellsville, Pa., assignor to Tri-State Engineering Company, Washington, Pa., a corporation of Maryland Application June 28, 1947, Serial No. 757,881

4 Claims.

This invention relates to pallets that are transportable by fork-lifting trucks and are adapted for carrying loads either for transportation or for stacking in warehouses, in freight cars or the like; this application being a modification of the invention shown and described in my applications Serial No. 741,983, filed April 17, 1947, now Patent 2,463,588 and Serial No. 611,332, filed August 18, 1945, now Patent 2,463,587.

In pallets of the type referred to, the loadcarrying deck is supported on legs which are spaced apart so that the forks of lifting trucks can be entered beneath the deck, to permit of lifting the pallet and carrying it from place to place. It frequently happens that the operator of a lifting truck will move it toward pallet-lifting position when the forks of the truck are out of alignment with the spaces between the pallet legs. The forks, in such cases, will make thrust engagement with the legs, which may not only result in damage to the pallet or at least the legs thereof, but requires some further maneuvering of the truck to place the forks in proper alignment for entry beneath the pallet deck.

My invention has for one of its objects the provision of a pallet structure having legs of such form that when they are engaged by the ends of lifting forks that are being moved horizontally toward the pallet, the pallet will be deflected or shifted to thereby avoid damaging thrusts against the legs and also to automatically effect alignment of the forks and the spaces between the legs.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pallet having a deck that comprises a central sheet adapted to support soft cargo such as bagged material, rubber articles, etc., and which is surrounded by a heavy wire framework of open mesh form, that may serve as part of the loadreceiving area; the framework having suficient strength to protect the inner deck area against damage during handling and load of the pallet, and facilitating the strapping of short loads on the deck, without extending the straps over the edges of the deck, and also providing smooth hand-holds at the edges of the deck.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pallet having a leg and deck structure of such improved form that the pallet structure as a whole possesses great strength for a given amount of material.

Still another object of my invention is to provide pallets of such form that they can be com-.- pactly stacked into relatively small space, when empty, for storage and shipment, and which are reversible for use either side up.

Some of the forms which my invention may take are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of a pallet; Fig. 2 is a side view thereof; Fig. 3 is an end view; Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views of the deck, taken on the lines IV-IV and V-V of Fig. 1, respectively; Fig. 6 is an inverted plan view of the base portion of the pallet of Fig. 1; Fig. '7 is a frag mentary view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 6 with certain of the parts omitted; Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively plan and sectional views of one of the floor plates of Fig. 6; Fig. 10 is an inverted plan View showing a modification of the base structure of Figs. 1 to 3, and Figs. 11 and 12 are plan and edge elevational views, respectively, of another modification of the base.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 6, the deck structure of the pallet includes a rectangular frame portion that comprises longitudinally-extending wires or rods 12 and 13 that overlie and are welded to transversely-extending wires 14 and [5. These wires may suitably be of No. 2 gauge for decks of 48 inches by inches, for example. The mid portion of the deck comprises a sheet I6 of expanded metal or other suitable sheet material that has edging strips ll of metal welded thereto. These strips may suitably be of 16 gauge and inch in width. The edging strips l! and the expanded metal are welded to transverse and longitudinal rods [8 and 19 that are, in turn, welded to the deck wires l2 and I4, respectively.

Base strips 22, 23 and 24, are provided for the underframing of the deck. These strips, as shown more clearly in Figs. 3 and 6, comprise longitudinally-extending wires 25 and other longitudially-extending wires 26--2l; transverse wires 28 being placed between the wires 25 and 26-21 and welded thereto. The marginal wires 21 at the edges of each strip may suitably be of No. 2 gauge and the other wires of No. 6 gauge.

Base plates 30 of sheet metal are welded to the wires 26--2'l, being deflected downwardly at zones between the strips to a common plane with the wires 25. The plates 30 not only give lateral bracing for the base, but also provide extended areas whereby the loaded pallets can readily be stacked upon one another. The ends of the strips 22, 23 and 24 are bent upwardly as shown more clearly in Fig. 2 to give a sled-runner effect, whereby the pallets can be slid along a floor.

Cylindrical legs or spacing elements 32 of hollow sheet metal form are welded to plates 33 and 34, at their upper and lower ends respectively, these plates being, in turn, Welded to the deck 3 and to the strips 22, 23 and 24. It will be seen that when lifting forks are being entered beneath the deck, the convexly curved contours of the legs 32 facilitate the entry of the lifting forks between the legs, since if the forks are not accurately aligned with the spaces between the legs, there wil1 be glancing impact, thus reducing the danger of injury to the legs by the forks. Even if the lifting forks engage squarely against the legs, the pallet will be shifted somewhat so that there will then be relative sliding movement between the sides of the forks and the pallet leg.

Referring now to Fig. 10, I show a form of pallet that will facilitate the stacking of pallets on one another when empty, in a more compact relation than is possible where the floor plates 39 are employed. In this arrangement, the deck is indicated by the broken lines A, the pallet being indicated as in inverted position. The base strips 22, 23 and 24 will be formed in the same manner as in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 6, but the floor plates 38 are omitted. The deck A may be formed in the manner as the deck of Figs. 1 to 5.

The spacing of the floor strips at the lower ends of the legs 32 is such that in stacking the pallets, alternate pairs of pallets will be turned with their bases in opposed relation so that the floor strip 24 for example and its associated legs 32 of one pallet, will lie between the strips 23 and 24 of the other pallet, and the strip 23 and its legs of the other pallet will lie between the strips 22 and 23 of the first-named pallet.

This open-bottom type of pallet can be used as a pallet of the load-transfer type, since when turned upside down, the strips 22, 23 and 2 1 will serve as a load-supporting deck. In such event, the pallet Withits load can be lifted and transported by lifting forks which will enter beneath the strips in the direction of the arrows BB. When the lifting forks are entered between the strips and their respective rows of legs, in the direction of the arrows C, the lifting forks can be used to deposit loads on these strips or to remove loads therefrom.

In both forms of structure, the openmesh welded deck facilitates attaching of loads to the deck by steel strapping or otherwise. Also, the expanded metal sheet I6 gives sufficient bearing surface for palletizing soft cargo such as bags or boxed material, by so-called glue loadings which involve the use of an adhesive which will not harden sufliciently to prevent easy removal of the load but will, nevertheless, be adequate to hold the load against slipping, under horizontal shocks.

In Figs. 11 and 12, I show a modification of the base arrangement of Figs. 6 and 10. In this additional modification, the basestrips 22-43-24 may be the same as the base strips of the other figures. The base strips will be connected to a suitable deck portion such as the deck of Figs. 1 to 3, by legs located at the points indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 11. The base strips have tie strips welded thereto. These six tie strips consist of wires 35 and 36 welded together, and in each instance, have their ends butt-welded to the edges of adjacent base strips. These tie strips serve not only to laterally support the base strips against displacement relative to one another but provide additional bearing area that facilitates stacking of loaded pallets upon one another. The base strips 22-23-14 of the various figures may suitably be made of 2 gauge to 5 gauge wire.

There is an important advantage in the particular arrangement of the rods for forming the various base strips as shown more clearly in Figs. 3 and 12. This advantage arises out of the fact that instead of having the transverse rods 28 welded to only one set of longitudinal rods, they have welded connection with longitudinal rods 25 and also the longitudinal rods 26 and 21. The bases formed in this manner have approximately thirty times the strength that they would have if the rods 25 or the rods 28-21 were omitted. These rods, together with the interposed rods 28, form a truss-like structure that is highly resistant to bending stresses.

I claim as my invention:

1. A reversible pallet having at one face thereof load-receiving areas that are formed by deck portions which are spaced laterally of one another to provide openings through which lifting forks can enter horizontally and be raised and lowered to planes above and below said areas, there being a deck portion disposed between two other deck portions, a longitudinally-aligned row of legs for supporting each of the deck portions,

the legs being rigidly connected to their respec' tive deck portions, and load-receiving members connecting the lower ends of the legs of each deck portion with the legs of an adjacent deck portion and serving as a deck area when the pallet is reversed.

2. A pallet having a deck portion comprising a welded mesh sheet that surrounds an area located centrally thereof, a deck sheet portion located Within said area, means securing said deck portions in unitary relation, and leg elements for supporting the composite deck in elevated position, the central deck portion being of expanded metal, with smaller mesh openings than the other deck portion.

3. A pallet having a deck portion comprising a welded mesh sheet that surrounds an area located centrally thereof, a deck sheet portion located within said area, cross bars extending beneath both of said deck portions and welded thereto, to maintain them in unitary relation, and leg elements for supporting the composite deck in elesheet and having opening through which loadretaining straps may be passed.

OSCAR F. ARTHUR;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,816,350 Thompson July 28, 1931 2,126,278 Quayle Aug. 9, 1938 2,369,944 Cahners Feb. 20, 1945 2,463,587

Arthur Mar. 8, 1949 OTHER REFERENCES The Palletizer Magazine, May 1946, page 6, published by Material Handling Laboratories, 131 Clarendon St., Boston 16, Mass. (Copy in Div. 52, Patent Oifice.) American Machinist, March 13, 1947. Page 180. 

